TIME Health toxins Eating Organic Produce Exposes You to Fewer Pesticides, Study Says Getty Images It might seem obvious, but there hasnt been a great deal of science to prove ituntil now

The recent debate over organic food has focused largely on nutrition. But the central question of whether organic is better for you than food grown conventionally might have at least as much to do with pesticide exposure as nutrient value.

At least, thats been the theory held by many organic advocates. And while it might seem obvious that eating organic food is a good way to avoid eating pesticides, there hasnt been a great deal of science to prove ituntil now.

A new study, published today in Environmental Health Perspectives, is the first and largest of its kind and it takes us a step closer to understanding the health risks of pesticide exposure by making a clearer connection between the food eaten and the pesticides present in the bodies of people who eat it. Using dietary exposure data from nearly 4,500 people in six cities, the study looked at organophosphates (OPs), one of the most widely used type of insecticides in the United States.

For the past three decades, overall use of OPs has declined. But recent U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows them to be among the top insecticides used on crops that include apples, peaches, and blueberries. According to the latest data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), more than 33 million pounds of OPs were used in the U.S. in 2007.

Treated crops include broccoli, cantaloupe, grapes, green beans, lettuce, nectarine, oranges, pears, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, mangoes, and onions. So if youre eating conventionally grown produce grown in the U.S., its more than likely that youve eaten some that was treated with OPs. Washing and/or peeling will remove some residues but not necessarily all for all fruit and vegetables.

Organophosphates have been shown to be toxic to the nervous system in people who are exposed to them directly. Breathing OPs can cause immediate acute adverse effects (headaches, dizziness, weakness, nausea, difficulty breathing). Long-term exposure can cause a range of neurological effects including memory loss, anxiety, and depression. Prenatal and childhood exposure has been shown to harm developing brains and result in lowered IQ and other cognitive problems. These effects have been studied primarily in farmworkers and their families and others living in agricultural communities and elsewhere that OPs have been used.

Numerous studies have shown OP exposure among people living and working where these insecticides are applied. But the EPA has also shown that among the general U.S. population, the primary route of exposure is through food. In its biomonitoring surveys, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found OPs in the urine of more than 75 percent of the U.S. population, indicating that exposure is indeed widespread.

What we dont yet know is whether adverse effects may be occurring in people exposed to OPs solely through food. The first step is to determine the connection between levels of OPs in the body and food actually eaten. Thats what Cynthia Curl set out to do.

Curl, an assistant professor in Boise State Universitys School of Allied Health Sciences and the lead author on this study, managed a research project while at the University of Washington known as the MESA air studythe Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. The MESA study, which began in 1999, was designed to investigate cardiovascular disease in six major U.S. metropolitan areas. The data Curl and colleagues used was from part of that study that was conducted between 2010 and 2012 with nearly 4,500 participants. Participants were already completing dietary questionnaires at multiple time points, explains Curl. We added questions about organic food consumption.

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Eating Organic Produce Exposes You to Fewer Pesticides, Study Says

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Slender women grapple with heavyweight sumo traditions (02-05 13:19) Nineteen-year-old Sayaka Matsuo (pictured left during a training bout) lies on the tatami mat as a personal masseur works on her neck and shoulders to squeeze out the knots. But this is no pamper package with relaxing music or detoxifying mist. Matsuo is warming up for a head-clashing bout of Japan's national sport sumo. Strapping her mawashi'' (loin cloth) over her lycra bike shorts, she squats into position, her 60-kilogram frame squaring off against a man more than two-and-a-half times her weight. The huge size difference is no obstacle for Matsuo. I started sumo as a hobby. I feel a lot of pressure from my dad and my goal is to win the women's Sumo World Championship one day, she tells AFPs Jessica Glanz. As the daughter of a former professional sumo-wrestler, whose ring name was Sadanohana, Matsuo had a leg up into a sport not usually associated with women, and started to wrestle at just five years old. Now she is part of a small, but growing band of female grapplers who are turning the tables on one of Japan's oldest boys' clubs. Opening up the sport to women is part of an effort to legitimise sumo as a possible future Olympic event, Tokyo University's Sumo Club coach Toshiaki Hirahara said. But Hirahara is also quick to point out that the top-level wrestling millions of Japanese watch on television needs to preserve its religious and spiritual origins. I think the fact that women cannot enter the sacred national dohyo (ring) is understandable as it is the realm of the gods,'' he said. But the amateur league has nothing to do with gods, so let girls and boys do it equally.'' The proportion of female sumo wrestlers remains small there are almost 300 boys taking part in the sport for every girl in Japan's elementary schools, according to the Japan Sumo Federation. Despite the yawning gap in numbers, female strength reigns supreme. Because the girls grow at a younger age, they are stronger than the boys,'' coach Hideto Tsushima of Nihon University says. Fujita, who studies Taiwanese history by day, is testimony to the fact that, with a little training, female wrestlers can remain on top by night she throws men twice her size at Tokyo University Sumo Club. So far, it's a passion practised in private, and she is yet to tell her parents. I think they'll be surprised... I plan to tell them after I graduate, or maybe when I get married,'' she said.

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Slender women grapple with heavyweight sumo traditions

TOKYONineteen-year-old Sayaka Matsuo lies on the tatami mat as a personal masseur works on her neck and shoulders to squeeze out the knots.

But this is no pamper package with relaxing music or detoxifying mist. Matsuo is warming up for a head-clashing bout of Japans national sportsumo.

Strapping her mawashiloin clothover her lycra bike shorts, she squats into position, her 60-kilogram (132-pound) frame squaring off against a man more than twice her weight.

The huge size difference is no obstacle for Matsuo, whose determination and technique shuffle her massive opponent across and out of the ring.

I started sumo as a hobby. I feel a lot of pressure from my dad and my goal is to win the womens Sumo World Championship one day, she told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

As the daughter of a former professional sumo wrestler, whose ring name was Sadanohana, Matsuo had a leg up into a sport not usually associated with women, and started to wrestle at just 5 years old.

Now she is part of a small, but growing band of female grapplers who are turning the tables on one of Japans oldest boys clubs.

Future Olympic event

Opening up the sport to women is part of an effort to legitimize sumo as a possible future Olympic event, said Tokyo Universitys Sumo Club coach Toshiaki Hirahara.

But Hirahara was also quick to point out that the top-level wrestling millions of Japanese watch on television needed to preserve its religious and spiritual origins.

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Women wrestlers take on Japans big boys

By Andrew MacAskill and Rupam Jain Nair

RISHIKESH, India Tue Feb 3, 2015 12:35pm IST

1 of 2. Priest-turned-lawmaker Sakshi Maharaj poses at his residence in New Delhi January 30, 2015.

Credit: Reuters/Anindito Mukherjee

RISHIKESH, India (Reuters) - In an ashram near the Ganges river in the Himalayan foothills, priest-turned-politician Sakshi Maharaj mimes rowing a boat to illustrate what will happen if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government ignores Hindu nationalist demands.

"Modi will have to be a boatman: one oar must focus on the economy and the other must concentrate on the Hindu agenda," says Maharaj, clad in saffron robes and sitting cross-legged on a bed.

He twirls his bejewelled fingers in the air, explaining that otherwise the boat will spin in circles.

The Hindu priest, who has been charged with rioting and inciting communal violence, is the embodiment of hardline religious elements in Modi's party whose strident behaviour is dragging on the government's economic reform agenda.

In recent months, Maharaj has created uproar by describing Mahatma Gandhi's Hindu nationalist assassin as a patriot, saying Hindu women should give birth to four children to ensure the religion survives and by calling for Hindus who convert to Islam and Christianity to be given the death penalty.

For the first time since the election last year, some lawmakers in Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are rebelling against his focus on mending the economy and governance at the expense of promoting Hinduism.

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Insight: Hardline Hindus become Modi's enemies from within